David Byrne tested his cooking skills while gathering ideas for the songs that ended up in his latest album, Who Is the Sky?

“I should get out my cookbook and tell you what recipes I tried. Of course, I knew how to make a very traditional mole, the dark one,” Byrne tells Billboard Español in reference to mole negro during a video call from his home in Brooklyn, New York.

The British-American musician, producer, avant-garde rock pioneer and intellectual shares that he primarily cooked Mexican and Indian dishes during the pandemic, when the first notes of the tracks included in his first album since the acclaimed American Utopia (2018) began to take shape.

“I learned how to make tortillas, not so good at first. I decided, ‘OK, I’m going to try maybe for health not using the lard fat in the tortilla and see if I can put something else in,’” continues the 73-year-old artist. “But it didn’t work out so at all. So I had to go back to the more traditional method.”

When it comes to music, though, the former Talking Heads frontman never follows a traditional method. Who is the Sky?, released Sept. 5 under Matador Records, features 12 songs as colorful as the album’s cover art. The rhythms used turn Byrne’s voice into yet another instrument in these subtle melodies, infused with avant-pop touches and orchestral textures. The lyrics are characterized by their ironic but always intelligent sense of humor. “Everybody Laughs,” with sublime backing vocals from St. Vincent, offers a joyful and hopeful moment.

For this project, Byrne enlisted Grammy-winning producer Kid Harpoon (Harry Styles, Miley Cyrus), telling him, “I want this to be a good-sounding, accessible record, but I also want to do something a little bit unusual.” The orchestral arrangements, meanwhile, are courtesy of the New York-based chamber ensemble Ghost Train Orchestra. “I heard a record [from them] I guess in 2023 — a record of compositions and songs by a guy named Moondog, who was kind of a street poet and he wrote really beautiful music,” he explains. “They did an interpretation of his music. I really liked it.”

Longtime friends and new collaborators — including Paramore’s Hayley Williams on “What Is the Reason for It?”, drummer Tom Skinner from The Smile and percussionist Mauro Refosco from American Utopia — also contribute to the album.

Byrne and St. Vincent — whose real name is Annie Clark — previously collaborated on the 2012 album Love This Giant, with most of the songs co-written by the two. “She was always doing really interesting things and she lived just a few blocks from the studio where I was, so I called her up and said, ‘Annie, can you come by for just a little while, maybe sing on a song?’” Byrne says. “And we had a great time. She did great. She wanted to do more, but she had to get back to her baby.”

Collaborating with younger musicians has become increasingly common for the “Psycho Killer” singer. Pop star Olivia Rodrigo invited him to perform a duet of the Talking Heads classic “Burning Down the House” at the Gov Ball festival in June.

“When I talked to her, I said, ‘Do you have time to rehearse a little bit of choreography? Can we work out some movement at the same time?’ And she said yes. So we had some rehearsals and worked out some movement. Some of it I think was inspired by [the Talking Heads’ 1983 concert film] Stop Making Sense.”

These collabs have shown the How Music Works author that many young artists appreciate what he and his band did in their time. “It’s very flattering and very exciting, that kind of mutual appreciation,” he says with satisfaction. “I like what they do too.”

Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Talking Heads, Byrne has explored many genres and global rhythms including from the Latin scene, with collaborations with artists like Celia Cruz, Café Tacvba, Los Amigos Invisibles, Los de Abajo, and Marisa Monte — some of them through his Luaka Bop label, founded in the late 1980s.

“Some months ago, I went to a concert here in New York of Mon Laferte. I know she’s Chilean, but she lives in Mexico. I like her music as well. I have to say, I was surprised at the concert. It was really, really good,” says Byrne. He also revealed that he’s a big fan of Natalia Lafourcade’s music, whom he met during the recording of Café Tacvba’s second MTV Unplugged in Mexico City in 2019.

Amid a busy work schedule, Byrne announced recently his marriage to financier Mala Gaonkar and the tour accompanying the release of Who Is the Sky?, which will take him to stages across the U.S., Canada, and Europe between 2025 and 2026. He also hopes to include Mexico on the trek next year. “I think in the spring,” he notes. “The dates are not set, but they are coming soon.”

More than halfway through 2025, Spotify and other Western music streaming platforms have yet to launch a much-anticipated “superfan” or “super-premium” tier, prompting questions about the delays and speculation about what features will be bundled together in a higher-priced offering.  

One option was ruled out on Wednesday (Sept. 11) when Spotify announced the arrival of high-quality, lossless audio as a standard perk for subscribers. Named HiFi, the audio offering was first announced in 2020 but was rarely mentioned by Spotify executives in the years since. A few years ago, HiFi might have seemed like a sensible part of a high-priced tier targeted at super-users. But today, better audio quality has become a regular feature rather than a separate perk. Amazon Music began offering lossless audio in 2019 for no extra charge with the launch of Amazon Music HD. Apple Music did the same when it debuted Dolby Atmos with Spatial Audio in 2021.  

A topic of conversation for years, superfan streaming has picked up interest in recent years as labels and streaming platforms seek to offset slowing streaming growth in much of the world. Streaming revenue exploded during the pandemic and maintained momentum from platforms’ price increases. That double-digit growth has faded lately, though. RIAA midyear figures released on Tuesday (Sept. 9) showed that U.S. subscription revenue grew 6.3% from the prior-year period, while free streaming fell 2.9%.  

Companies began teasing superfan tiers in 2024. Spotify CEO Daniel Ek went from a brief mention of the word “superfan” last year to “playing around” with a prototype in February. And Universal Music Group (UMG) has been talking about superfan streaming tiers since last year; in March, UMG chief digital officer Michael Nash said the company was in talks with all its streaming partners — not just Spotify — about super-premium tiers.  

Given the vast number of superfans in existence, offering the same service to all subscribers is effectively leaving money on the table. There were approximately 820 million subscribers worldwide at the end of 2024, according to MIDiA Research, and a 20% conversion rate would produce more than 160 million potential superfan subscribers. Notably, Luminate estimates that superfans — defined as people who follow an artist and their content in five or more ways — comprise 18% of U.S. music listeners and are more tolerant of price increases than the general population.  

But after all the public statements, Spotify and other Western streaming platforms have yet to launch a superfan tier. In fact, the wait could be longer than expected. In August, Spotify chief business officer Alex Nordström said as much when he emphasized the company’s high standards for new product launches. “We’re making progress, for sure, but it’s taking time,” he said.  

The only superfan streaming product on the market comes from China’s Tencent Music Entertainment (TME). Its Super VIP tier, which costs about five times as much as a standard subscription, offers high-quality audio, early access to concert tickets, exclusive digital album downloads and collectible merchandise. As of June 30, TME had more than 15 million Super VIP subscribers, accounting for 12% of all subscribers.  

There’s a long list of remaining features that could find their way into Western streaming platforms’ superfan products, numerous experts tell Billboard, including early access to music, concert tickets, merchandise, deep-from-the-vaults recordings, non-music content from artists and exclusive access to artists through virtual meet-and-greets with fans.  

Market research firm MusicWatch has surveyed consumers about their interest in different streaming service features. While the survey did not ask about superfan tiers or a willingness to pay extra, the results showed that consumers are most interested in high-quality audio, early access to concert tickets through the streaming app, original version of songs and discounts on artist-related merchandise, according to MusicWatch principal Russ Crupnick. Exclusive music, early access to music and live streams also ranked high.  

Similarly, MIDiA Research surveys have found that early access to music and concert tickets offered by a favorite artist is the most in-demand feature for a monthly subscription service. “This makes sense to me,” says Tatiana Cirisano, MIDiA’s vp of music strategy. “In a world where music and social media content from artists is ubiquitous and available for free, value is reassigned to getting exclusive or early access to things which are scarcer.” Behind-the-scenes content scored worse, probably because fans are already awash in such videos on social media, she adds.  

Fans have already shown they are willing to spend dearly on their favorite artists. In-demand concert tickets can easily range from hundreds to thousands of dollars, and an official T-shirt can easily fetch more than $50. Streaming, in comparison, costs approximately $130 annually. “IRL is where most of the superfan value lies,” says Vickie Nauman of music consultancy CrossBorderWorks.  

But whether the perk is digital, physical or experiential, experts say that many possible components of a superfan streaming tier come with concerns, questions, logistical hurdles or practical problems.  

While streaming platforms can ingest huge amounts of music and cater to the interests of hundreds of millions of listeners, real-world perks don’t scale as well, says Nauman. A virtual meet-and-greet with an artist, for example, is a bespoke event — an awkward fit for a platform built on equal access to music. What’s more, artists may not want to invest time into superfan perks. “Artists are already supposed to engage fans on social media, apps, email, live and through labels,” she says, “and really they just want to be artists.”  

Many of these possible superfan perks would also necessitate negotiation with new parties. For more than two decades, streaming platforms have had two main counter-parties: record labels and music publishers. The two sides negotiate licensing deals that allow platforms to offer unlimited access to huge catalogs of music. Offering perks related to merchandise, tickets, meet-and-greets or live streams would require negotiations with countless artist managers and require unique licensing agreements.  

Merchandise has a couple of advantages, though, says Andrew Stess, CEO of StessCo Consulting Group. “I think that that’s something that probably is easier to negotiate, and you could have global parity,” he says. But concert tickets, a perk frequently given to credit card customers, would require more difficult negotiations and present logistical hurdles, Stess adds. “It’s very difficult to do, especially globally. I think there would be a lot of one-offs,” he says — as opposed to ticket offerings that satisfy a wide swath of fans. Giving fans the ability to remix tracks is an interesting possibility, he adds, and there are already numerous startups in the space.  

Offering superfan subscribers exclusive music, or early access to music, could also be problematic, as both would break with longstanding tradition. Streaming exclusives were once common but became rarer after Universal Music Group CEO Lucian Grainge ended the practice in 2016. Instead, record labels and streaming platforms typically have a single release date for new albums, which maximizes first-week performance and also limits any piracy that would arise from staggered release dates.  

Giving superfan subscribers early access to some recordings could also alienate some customers, notes Cirisano. “There’s also the worry that current subscribers will be upset if they feel something is being taken away from them — giving higher-tier subscribers earlier access equates to current subscribers feeling like they have late access.” 

Potential problems with superfan offerings extend all the way to re-teaching people how to use the app. Consumers have grown accustomed to all-you-can-eat subscription platforms that integrate music, podcasts and sometimes audiobooks and videos. New features can be integrated into the apps, but consumers will be required to engage differently, “so this is not a small lift,” says Nauman. 

At worst, a superfan who’s tuned into their favorite artist won’t see the value in some perks. “’Why would I pay extra for this when I’m already really wired into the artists?’” says Crupnick. “’I know where I can get merch. I go to their shows. I know where I can get tickets.’” 

Ultimately, Crupnick adds, streaming platforms will need to decide which type of person they want to target. A superfan spends money on tickets,  merch and music. The “superstreamer” simply streams the most music.  

Whichever products eventually see the light of day will reflect the type of consumer the streaming platform is targeting. Being a superfan goes well beyond streaming a favorite artist’s music; it also means attending concerts, buying merchandise and following artists outside of a streaming app. But streaming platforms could simply target superstreamers and focus on the streaming experience. Of course, if the answer for how to effectively target music’s most avid consumers was straightforward, there would probably be more superfan offerings on the market today. 

Lil Durk’s trial on federal murder-for-hire charges might be postponed from October to January, according to new court filings — but the star himself still wants to go to trial next month.

In a joint motion filed in court Friday (Sept. 12), prosecutors and attorneys for several of Durk’s co-defendants agreed on the delay, arguing that the case is “so unusual and so complex” that the defense teams should get more time to prepare for trial.

If granted, the motion will delay by three months a blockbuster trial on charges that Durk orchestrated a plot to kill rival rapper Quando Rondo, resulting in a 2022 Los Angeles shooting that left another man dead.

Notably, it appears that Durk (Durk Devontay Banks) himself is not on board with the request, meaning he wants to stick to the original trial date: “Defendant Banks does not join in the stipulation to continue the trial in this matter.”

But consent or not, the feds say Durk should be forced to go along with the delay, noting that he’s joined to the others for trial, and that a three-month wait “constitutes a reasonable period of delay” — meaning it will not violate his constitutional right to a speedy trial.

Durk could oppose the motion to postpone the trial, or seek to have his case severed and tried separately on the original schedule. His attorney did not immediately return a request for comment from Billboard.

The rapper was arrested last year on murder-for-hire and gun charges over allegations that he ordered members of his Only the Family (OTF) crew to carry out the 2022 attack, which left Rondo (Tyquian Bowman) unscathed but saw his friend Lul Pab (Saviay’a Robinson) killed in the crossfire.

In charging documents, prosecutors claimed that Durk’s OTF was not merely a group of Chicago rappers, but a “hybrid organization” that also functioned as a criminal gang to carry out violent acts “at the direction” of Durk. Prosecutors say he ordered the Rondo shooting in retaliation for the 2020 killing of rapper King Von (Dayvon Bennett), a close friend and frequent collaborator.

The case initially cited Durk’s lyrics, quoting from a song called “Wonderful Wayne & Jackie Boy” in which Durk allegedly referenced the shooting. But after Durk’s lawyers pointed out that the rapper recorded those verses “seven months before the incident even happened,” prosecutors filed a new indictment that removed them from the case.

Durk has denied the allegations and pleaded not guilty to the charges. Also charged in the case are OTF members Kavon London Grant, Deandre Dontrell Wilson and Asa Houston, as well as Keith Jones and David Brian Lindsey, two other alleged Chicago gang members.

Friday’s motion seeking the postponement was signed by lawyers for Wilson, Houston and Lindsey. Though it mentioned that Durk did not consent, it failed to mention Jones or Grant at all; their attorneys did not immediately return separate requests for comment.

When Jake Worthington performed at the Grand Ole Opry recently, he brought a special guest with him —a bit of family history, as he played his late grandfather’s guitar, while standing on the famed six-foot diameter oak circle embedded in the center of the Opry House stage.

“My papaw was a big reason why I got the itch for a song,” Worthington tells Billboard, noting that his grandfather raised him on the sounds of George Jones, Merle Haggard and Ray Price. “He played dance halls in Texas, and he was a singer-songwriter. My dad has had [the guitar] for a while, and it wasn’t about maybe two months ago, he said, ‘Hey, you need to take this home.’ So ever since I’ve had it, I’ve been using it. To be playing the Opry, I thought it was appropriate.”

On the La Porte, Texas native’s (just southeast of Houston) second album When I Write The Song, out today (Sept. 12) on Big Loud Texas, Worthington also brings bit of history to the fore, with his throwback sound that feels pulled directly from dusty honky-tonks and barrooms that inspired Texas country greats such as George Jones and Willie Nelson. Alongside contemporaries including tourmate Zach Top, Worthington has played a key role in reinvigorating modern country music with a sterling shot of old-school country sounds.

“I like my music to sound like live music,” Worthington says. “And to me, it’s not a specific sub-genre of a type, It’s just country music to me. For the last good while, it seemed almost d–n near impossible to get anybody behind that idea, within country music. And I think I’ve never been more inspired with the world of music right now. I think it’s still the Wild West, and I like that it’s hairy and it’s a ‘Nobody’s going to do it for you’ type of thing. I just want to make music that I love and something I believe in, and I can only hope folks take to it.”

His new album continues to showcase Worthington’s growing star power as an ardent devotee of country music’s timeless sounds. His warm vocal, an instrument he can effortlessly bend to his will in old-school singing reminiscent of Jones or Mark Chesnutt, anchors Western swing in “My Home’s In Oklahoma,” ‘90s country-esque sounds in the humorous “Two First Names,” and somber, honky-tonk self-reflection on “I Only Drink When It Rains.” Fiddle, steel guitar, piano, and acoustic guitars flow throughout the album.

Worthington is a currently nominated for entertainer of the year at November’s Texas Country Music Association Awards, while the new album’s “It Ain’t The Whiskey” is nominated for the TCMA’s country single of the year accolade.

Worthington has been signed with Big Loud since 2021 and when Miranda Lambert and Jon Randall teamed with Big Loud to form Big Loud Texas in 2023, they quickly brought Worthington into the fold.

“I feel like it just garnered me more champions within the company,” Worthington says. “I feel really grateful for that.”

As the album’s title nods to, Worthington had a hand in writing nearly every song on the album. The lone exception is a song Lambert wrote with Jesse Frasure, Dean Dillon and Jessie Jo Dillon.

“She told me the story that she had gotten the write with Dean and they had tossed ideas out and nothing was happening. I guess it started raining and Dean is pretty well known to just go light a cigarette, walk away and come back with brilliance. I guess he lit a cigarette and said, ‘Hello, shitty day,’ and Miranda had said, ‘I want to write that.’”

Lambert sent the song to Worthington, who immediately decided to record it and asked Lambert to sing on it.

“When it’s all said and done, there will never be no one like her, and I feel really fortunate that I’ve gotten to see that firsthand. I just thought, hearing her sing, ‘She’s one of the best singers I’ve ever heard in my life,” Worthington says.

Country Music Hall of Famer Marty Stuart joins him on “I’m The One,” which has its own piece of guitar history embedded in the recording.

“Marty’s the coolest guy out there, and he is a steward of country music,” Worthington says. “When we did the [recording] session, he had brought the Clarence White Telecaster [which belonged to late Byrds musician Clarence White] and that’s cultural architecture right there. They had put me in the vocal booth with Marty and they had an old reverb. I was singing, and he had the Clarence White going and you could feel the air off the amp, like I was getting baptized in it.”

Worthington says Stuart also brought to the session a Martin D-45 guitar once owned by Hank Williams, Sr. “It had this bow tie inlay at the top by the bridge. Marty’s the type of guy that’ll be wearing a $50 gig bag around his neck, and it’s got a million-dollar guitar in it. It could be Jimmie Rodgers’ guitar, it could be Merle Haggard’s guitar.”

The tender, piano-led track “I Feel You,” featuring harmonies from stellar vocalist Mae Estes, was written by Worthington with Roger Springer and Jacob Weinschenk — though Worthington says it also led to an eyebrow-raising, humorous situation when he played it for his wife Sophie.

“They really got started on that. I’m writing it with them and I’m just smelling the brownie points,” he recalls. “I’m thinking, ‘Sophie’s gonna love this because they are true feelings and things that I probably don’t say enough.’ I got home to play it for her, she’s listening to it and I’m thinking she’s just going to be knocked out by it. She goes, ‘Who the f—k’s got auburn hair?’ And I was like, ‘Oh, s—t. That’s Jacob’s wife.’ So for me to sing it, we had to change that lyric to ‘golden.’ So that was a fun little part of that.”

Worthington also has his wife Sophie to thank for bringing in Estes to sing on the track. “I recorded it and realized the song needed a strong female harmony vocal. I called Sophie and got her thoughts on it and she goes, ‘If you don’t call Mae Estes right now, you’re about the dumbest son of a b—ch.’ So that’s what I did. I called and left Mae a voicemail at 3:30 in the morning and asked her to sing on the song. She said yes before she even heard it. I had already put my vocal down on it, but it was important to me to sing it together, so I canned that s—t and she came into the studio and we sang it together.”

Off the studio, Worthington has been soaking in his new role as dad to the couple’s daughter Whitley, born nearly a year ago. “Me and Sophie are very, very lucky people. We have a healthy, healthy, beautiful baby girl,” says Worthington.

He also notes his daughter is already showing some love for classic country: “She loves Merle Haggard. I mean, that girl could be just having a hissy fit, but Mama puts on a YouTube video of Merle Haggard live on [Austin City Limits], that little booger will flip around and find that music and just be mesmerized by it. And I sing her the same old songs I heard as a kid, ‘Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down.’ And I would sing [Wynn Stewart’s] ‘It’s Such A Pretty World Today.’”

As he releases his sophomore project, Worthington is bringing his brand of country music to fans as direct support on Zach Top’s Cold Beer & Country Music Tour, and opening slots on Jon Pardi’s Honkytonk Hollywood Tour.

“This is the second chapter in a book that I hope has a whole lot of chapters,” he says.